This is the fifth part in the series on the ways we see how the Bible is all about Jesus—even and especially the Old Testament.
In the Old Testament we see Jesus through types, where somebody does something that’s a little bit like Jesus but he comes along and does it bigger and better.
The Last Adam
History starts with the first Adam. Jesus is called the last Adam (1 Cor. 15:45; Rom. 5:12–21).
- The first Adam sinned; the last Adam atoned for sin.
- Through the first Adam we fell; through the last Adam we can be saved.
- Through the first Adam there was condemnation; through the last Adam there is salvation.
- Through the first Adam we inherit a sin nature; through the last Adam we receive a new nature.
- Through the first Adam we’re born sinners; through the last Adam we’re born again as saints.
- The first Adam turned from God in a garden; and the last Adam turned to God in another garden.
- The first Adam was a sinner; the last Adam is a Savior of sinners.
- The first Adam yielded to Satan; the last Adam defeated Satan.
- The first Adam sinned at a tree; the last Adam atoned for sin on a tree.
- The first Adam brought thorns; the last Adam wore a crown of thorns.
- The first Adam was naked and unashamed; the last Adam was stripped naked and bore our shame.
- Everybody is born in Adam, but not everyone is born again in Jesus.
My hope is that you would be born again in the last Adam, Jesus Christ, for Jesus is the better and greater Adam.
High Priest
In the Old Testament the priests mediate between people and God. Today, Jesus is our great high priest (Heb. 2:17; 4:15–16; 5:10). God became a man to mediate between himself and us. This is why Paul tells Timothy, “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2:5). Our mediator is Jesus, not religion, not the church, not morality—but the man Jesus Christ. He is our truer and better priest who brings us to God and brings God to us.
Word of God
In the Old Testament the prophets speak for God. Jesus is the Word of God (John 1:1, 14; Heb. 4:12; 1 John 1:1; Rev. 19:13). He is a preacher and teacher of the Word of God.
Kings
In the Old Testament, kings rule and reign. Today, Jesus is our greater King. Jesus is the ruler of the kings on earth (Rev. 1:5). He is the King of the nations (Rev. 15:3). He’s the King of kings (1 Tim. 6:15; Rev. 19:16). He’s the King of the ages (1 Tim. 1:17; cf. Psa. 10:16). He has a kingdom that will never end, a kingdom that has perfect justice and provision for all.
Shepherds
The shepherds we read about in the Old Testament who cared for their wayward sheep give us a glimpse of Jesus as the good shepherd. We’re the sheep, and Jesus is the good shepherd. The good shepherd laid down his life for his sheep (John 10:11, 14).
Judges
We also read of judges who bring justice in the Old Testament. Jesus tells us inJohn 5 that the Father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the Son (John 5:22; cf. John 5:27; Acts 10:42). Jesus is the true and greater judge.
Temple
In the Old Testament the temple is the meeting place between men and God, designed after God’s dwelling place in heaven (1 Kings 8:29–30; Exod. 25:40). According to the author of Hebrews, the temple served as “a copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (Heb. 8:5). Jesus spoke of his body as the temple of God (John 2:21). He is the greater temple. As the temple dwelled among men in the Old Testament, Jesus dwelled among us (John 1:14). Today, we don’t go to a place to worship, but we go to a person to worship. His name is Jesus Christ.
Jesus came to be with us and to make our bodies a temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21). The presence of God dwells within us so that we can live not just live a better life but live a new life. Through Christ in us, we can, by the power of the Holy Spirit, be new people, living new lives by the presence of God, as the temple of God, to the glory of God, because we’re the people of God.